Yolanda Fonseca Benavidez

YOLANDA FONSECA BENAVIDEZ
PHARR - "Do something worth remembering." - Elvis Presley
Yolanda, age 76, passed away Thursday, January 13, 2022 at Amara Hospice surrounded by those she loved. She was preceded in death by her parents, Bernardo Fonseca and Enedina Ortega Fonseca; grandmother, San Juana Hernandez; her husband Evelio Benavidez; and by her siblings, Susana (Sabino) Rodriguez, Alicia (+Jose) Jackson, Bernardo (+Clara) Fonseca, Gilberto Fonseca and Ninfa Fonseca.
Left to cherish her memory is her son Evelio Benavidez, Jr. and his children Clarissa and Brandon Benavidez, her daughter Enedina Benavidez and her children Alejandra and Marco Reyes, and her son Esteban (Jackie) Benavidez and their children Esteban and Eliana Benavidez. She is also survived by her three siblings, Victor (Elma) Fonseca of Mission, Texas, Olivia (+Manuel) Ortega of McAllen, and Juan (Debra) Fonseca of Austin, Texas.
Yolanda began her work ethic as a volunteer and later worked at St. Margaret's Catholic Church in Pharr and Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mission, Texas. She then went on to work as a secretary to the San Juan Retreat House on the Shrine Grounds. She spent many a day leading retreats such as Foresight, Reach Out, Search and Re-Search and working under awesome directors. Her love for retreats continued as she took the retreats on the road in Roma, Texas and Mission, Texas. She then felt a calling to do more for herself, and against all odds and with the love and support of her family went to college at Pan American and became an ESL Teacher with the Head Start Program and later her true calling as an elementary teacher for PSJA ISD at Reed Mock-Elementary School in San Juan, Texas. She was so proud of her students and her co-workers. Yolanda retired from teaching but kept a teacher's heart always teaching and loving those who were around her. She was best known for her awesome meals of which her Thanksgiving stuffing was amazing, her Cornish Hen and acorn squash dinner was superb, and her enchiladas were without compare, a potato salad that was out of this world.
Visitation will be held from 3 to 8 p.m., with a 7 p.m. rosary Tuesday, January 18, 2022, at Memorial Funeral Home in San Juan. Funeral mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday, January 19, 2022, at St. Anne's Catholic Church in Pharr. Cremation will take place at Memorial Cremation Center in Edinburg. Interment of cremated remains will take place at El Capote Cemetery at a later date.
The Benavidez and Fonseca family would like to take this time to thank all of you that shared in our mom's life. She was a better person because of it. We will continue to live our lives knowing that our mom and Dad gave us the greatest gift of all. Love.
2 Timothy 4:7-8
"I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance."
Funeral services are under the direction of Memorial Funeral Home in San Juan.

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